Lately some firearms enthusiasts have suffered from “black rifle fatigue” and have gone in search of a 5.56mm/.223 rifle other than an AR. I still very much love my ARs however, I have instead been inflicted with a different firearms related condition, Glock fatigue. Combine this with my recent affinity for factory red dot capable handguns and the field of not-a-Glock contenders begins to narrow. The Canik line of handguns had piqued my interest for the last few months as I kept hearing about a feature packed firearm with a great trigger at a reasonable price and since my Glock 26 was the next up on the chopping block, I figured the TP9 SC Elite could make a possible replacement.
In terms of a quick comparison, the TP9 SC (SC for sub compact) Elite is the Glock 26 size version of Canik’s TP9 line of handguns. Canik’s website can provide you the exact measurements, if you are a numbers junkie, so I will skip detailing the exact technical aspects here. It functions as a polymer frame, striker fired handgun, with a tungsten colored slide which I understand is a Cerakote coating on top of nitride. The TP9 SC’s grip filled my hand well with the medium backstrap installed (for reference I wear a L size glove). Included with the Canik are a couple of different backstraps for adjusting the grip size, assuring most shooters will find a comfortable option. Assisting with the length of the grip, both included magazines have extensions allowing for a comfortable full hand grip, no floating pinky to be found here. The shorter of the two magazines has a 12 round capacity and the larger has a 15 round capacity. In my opinion, this is the perfect way to package magazines for a CCW pistol as the 12 round magazine provides for easier concealed carry and the 15 round magazine makes for an enhanced reload.
Moving on to the controls of the firearm, this was one space where I as a left-handed shooter, was especially excited by the Canik. I know that the Canik is far from the only handgun with ambidextrous controls in today’s age however, I always welcome another step closer to ambidextrous controls becoming universal. The slide release lever is ambidextrous and provides positive engagement and release with the slide. The lever is of the long arm style, similar to that found on Walther handguns, and provides good surfaces for engagement with the thumb, without being overly large. The magazine release is capable of being moved so that it can be oriented on either side of the firearm, simply requiring removal and then re-insertion of a cotter type pin that pulls out towards the top of the frame.
Although I was initially skeptical, the trigger lived up to the hype. The trigger press initially feels like most other striker fired weapons, with a certain amount of slack that you must get through before encountering the point of firm resistance, “the wall”. The trigger breaks at a noticeably lighter poundage than I expected, registering an average of 4.95lbs on a digital Lyman trigger pull scale. The reset of the trigger is very short, like APEX short but without having to pay for the upgrade.
I chose to fill the milled out section of the slide with another product I had been wanting to try, a Sig Optics Romeo Zero. The Canik is cut for the Docter Shield sights, which the Romeo shares a footprint with. So far, my only gripe with the Romeo is the auto adjust keeps it a little too bright for my preference, but it sits nicely on the Canik and no functional issues have popped up.
I found the handgun to shoot accurately, putting up groups with holes that all touched each other with the boring regularity that we all expect from a modern handgun. The bore axis did feel a bit high, remember I have a heavy background with Gaston’s children, but not Sig P-series high. The slide initially struck me as blocky but I found I didn’t really notice it when firing it and there’s a good chance the mass helped with recoil impulse as well. The slide has both front and rear serrations, as well as the two features on this pistol I could do without. The slide has a loaded chamber indicator in the form of a little lever that noses up just behind the ejection port on top of the slide, as well as a cocked striker indicator that protrudes out of a cutout in the rear of the slide. So may find it useful, but I prefer press checks when checking for a loaded chamber.
Overall, I am impressed with the TP9 SC Elite especially with the included features for the price. It checks the boxes of what I want a modern handgun to do, namely ambidextrous controls and red dot capability. Accuracy is good and the initial reliability shakedown has not rooted out any problems. At this point my only question with the Canik is the long-term reliability, which will simply be an exercise in time. If like me, you are looking for a Glock alternative in the subcompact space, I say give it a hard look.
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